Wireless Access

My colleague and I are having a debate about the merits of the two AP management modes in Airwave.  We have heard from some sources that APs should only be run in monitor mode, that unintended consequences can result from running APs in Managed Read/Write mode.  However, some functions are much easier to do in Airwave, but can only be accomplished while in Managed mode.  

What are your experiences?  What can go wrong?  Would it still go south if you moved in and out of Managed mode temporarily, or is it simply the act of becoming managed that can cause configurations to go wrong?

Any real world knowlege is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Bill

Hi Bill,

Keeping the device in manage mode is not bad, assuring you keep an eye on the configuration changes you make. If the devices are in manage mode on Airwave, whatever config you make on Airwave and save and apply will be pushed across to Controllers in that group. It is easy to manage all the devices using Airwave as you dont have to login to each and every device and do it. Like a center point to manage.

If we have the device in manage mode make sure to push all config from Airwave itself. Incase we are making any direct change on controller it would show up as mismatch on Airwave. Then we would have to import that config to Airwave.

Before we put any controller to manage mode, you can make sure the below points are checked.

• Make sure a group have only devices with Same configuration
• Groups in Airwave are configuration specific and can hold only one configuration at a time
• If you have Master local setup you can put them in same group
• Make sure device is not showing up any mismatch before you put in manage mode. In case it shows mismatch we have to verify what the mismatch is

You can also put the device in monitor mode and change it to manage mode once in a while when you have to push anything from Airwave. You can do this manually or even by creating a maintenance window for a particular time. i.e. if you create a maintenance window for like 2 AM the device in that group will automatically go to manage mode at that time, fetch the config from Airwave and come back to monitor mode one the window is over. However, make sure these devices are in good state on Airwave, meaning the config always synced between controller and Airwave.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further queries.